Q&A: plan to cap benefits

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George Osborne addresses the Conservative Party Annual ConferenceJames Glossop for The Times

Leah Milner

Last updated at 3:08PM, October 4 2010

The Chancellor George Osborne today announced plans for a limit on the total
amount of benefits any one family can claim. Mr Osborne said there would no
longer be an “open-ended cheque book”, arguing that apart from those coping
with disabilities, “no family should get more from living on benefits than
the average family gets from going out to work”.

Q. What is being proposed?

A. The Chancellor has proposed that from 2013, the total benefits of
every household will be capped at the level of the average take-home pay for
working households - estimated to be £500 per week or